Snow that Falls at Dark
by Goldmoonrider
Summary: Snow, daughter of Lark that Sings at Dawn, has finally entered the new world! She and her sister, Rain, plan on living life together for the rest of their lives. But when Stoneteller chooses Snow to become the next Stoneteller, she is horrified and scared. How could she be torn from Rain like this? Abandoned story!
1. Chapter 1

Snow could taste her sister's scent overwhelm her in the nest she shared in the Tribe nursery, but it was stale. Where was Rain? Snow had to know. Without thinking, she flung her eyes open and looked around the den for the first time. She could finally see! The white tabby she-kit was only two sunrises old, and her sister had already opened her eyes and was wandering around the camp, without Snow! But how was she going to find her sister? She didn't know what her sister's pelt looked like, nor did she know anyone else in the camp for that matter. She only knew the scents of her mother, the other kit mothers, and her father, Dark Shadow over Water.

In the Tribe of the Rushing Water, each cat had a long name, and the first word in their name was what all the other Tribe cats would call that cat. Snow's name was Snow that Falls at Dark. Snow's sister's full name was Rain that Falls Softly. Her mother's name was Lark that Sings at Dawn, and when a new leader is appointed for the Tribe, his or her name became Teller of the Pointed Stones, or Stoneteller.

Snow could fell her mother's belly rise and fall behind her, and felt warmth flood her as she thought of waking her mother and telling Lark her eyes were open. But that warmth soon faded when she thought of how mad the other she-cats would be if they were woken up to, so Snow jumped out of her nest without a word and padded out of the nursery.

Outside her den was amazing. She could hear the waterfall of the Tribe behind her, and cats were padding in and out of the cave. Some of the cats gave a quick nod to Snow as they past her, and the others just merely looked at her, and then went on with their business. Snow could see some of the cats come in groups of three or four, some carrying prey, others padding close to the ones with prey.

"Snow, you're awake finally! Oh, and you've opened your eyes!" a startling meow came from across the cave, coming from an orange she-kit with black spots and stripes, and amber eyes.

The scent of the she-kit flooded Snow as the orange cat ran across the cave and up to the white cat. She immediately recognized the sweet smell. "Rain!" Snow gasped. She never thought Rain's pelt looked like that. Her sister had a broad chest, and looked bigger than Snow thought she was. "Rain, you're so big! I can't wait for you to show me around the camp, I bet all the other cats would let you go anywhere!"

Snow had heard about what types of cats get to be prey-hunters, and what cats get to be cave-guards. She knew her sister was going to be a cave-guard. Rain had a huge chest, and she looked as if she would be able to pull an eagle down by herself already!

But before the speckled she-kit could answer, a stern growl came from behind the sisters. "Snow that Falls at Dark, what are you doing outside of the kit-den? Does your mother know you are outside, without your eyes open?"

Snow whipped around to see her father, Dark. "Father, I've opened my eyes already, see!"

The dark tom just looked from one of Snow's eyes to the next. Snow could see amusement in his eyes, even though he didn't look impressed. "You have. But you still haven't answered my question; does your mother know you are out here?"

Snow shook her head slowly. She hadn't thought of her mother waking up anytime soon. "I'm sorry father." Her tail drooped down to touch the ground as she turned to go back to the den, but before she could, she was stopped by her father.

"I was only joking about being mad, Snow! It's great that you've opened your eyes already! They are beautiful!" Dark's eyes shone with happiness, and he put his tail on his daughter's shoulder and led her over to a group of huge cats not far from there Snow, Rain, and Dark had stood talking.

"Hey, guys! Look, Snow's opened her eyes finally!" Dark called to the cats.

All at once, Snow and her father were surrounded by large numbers of cats, asking tons of questions and saying things about the white she-kit's eyes. Snow instinctively ducked down from the faces and curled into a ball, terrified.

Dark silenced the group of cats with a flick of his tail, obviously not excepting so many cats to gather around his daughter. "I don't think we should scare her. After all, she's only just opened her eyes. How about everyone tells her their name?" At once all the cats started to open their mouths to speak, but Dark was faster. "One at a time."

A dark gray tom stepped forward. Snow wrinkled her nose at his scent. He didn't smell like all the other cats. His scent was deeper, and it had a fishy taste to it. But to her surprise, the gray cat was amused. "My name is Stormfur. I'm from the Clans, and I can see your not use to my scent yet. I can from a Clan called RiverClan, and in RiverClan, the only food there is are fish."

_No wonder_, Snow wrinkled her nose again as another cat stepped forward, and gladly this cat didn't smell like RiverClan. He smelled of the Tribe. His voice was deep, yet comforting. "I am Gray Sky at Dawn. I'm from the tribe, don't worry."

Snow didn't know whether that was a warning to Stormfur or not, but she didn't care. Another cat stepped forward, one that looked like Stormfur, only she had spots, and no icky scent. "I am Pebble that Rolls down Hill. I am a very good friend with your father."

In Pebble's place, a light brown tabby she-cat stepped forward. She smelled somewhat like Stormfur, but not as fishy. She also had another scent, one that Stormfur had, a faint scent. "My name is Brook where Small fish Swim. I am Stormfur's mate. I can see your nose is wrinkling up again. I have the scent of him because a long time ago, we went to ThunderClan to get help for the Tribe. I am also your mother's mother, your kin."

Snow was happy to hear this. But before she could say anything else, a huge dark gray cat like Stormfur came through the crowd of cats and stood in front of Snow. His eyes gleamed with happiness, but Snow saw a flash of sadness go through his eyes. She couldn't understand it. Before she could ask, he spoke. "I am Stoneteller, leader and healer of the Tribe of the Rushing Water. Brook is my sister, so we are kin also." The gray tom dipped his head to Snow, as if she was the leader of the Tribe herself.

All the other cats waited for Stoneteller to leave the crowd, and another cat came up to Snow. This time, the cat wasn't unknown to her. It was Lark.

Snow jumped up and down, happy to see her mother finally awake, and happy to be able to see her mother. The white tabby kit saw that her mother's eyes were green. _Are my eyes green too?_ Snow wondered.

"Mother! Do you like my eyes? Are they nice? What color are they?" Snow asked, bouncing up and down in happiness.

Lark smiled, her whiskers twitching in amusement. "They are lovely dear. But they are blue, not green like mine. Neither your father nor I have blue eyes. That's quite odd."

Snow's tail drooped now. Why weren't her eyes like her mother and fathers? "Oh…"

Before anyone else could speak, Stoneteller's voice rang out through the cave. "Let all cats of the Tribe gather to hear my words!"

Rain leaped through the group of cats that had started to break off and veered out of the cave. Lark put her tail on Snow's shoulder, and the three cats padded out of camp and over to where Stoneteller was. He stood on a large rock in the middle of a clearing, his eyes glowing as he looked around at all the cats.

Once all the cats were settled in the clearing, the gray tom began. "As most of you know, Snow had finally opened her eyes. Also, some of you might know that I am coming to the end of my life with you, and it is almost time for me to go be with the Tribe of the Endless Hunting. So, because of what has happened today, I have chosen a successor that will be trained to lead this Tribe." At this, Stoneteller turned his gaze on Rain, or, that was what Snow thought. He's going to choose my sister! She gets to become the next Tribe leader! How cool! Snow was so happy for her sister, she wanted to yowl it out to the Tribe. But to her surprise, it wasn't Rain who was going to lead the Tribe. "I have chosen Snow to become the next Stoneteller."

Snow stared at Stoneteller in horror. How could SHE lead a Tribe? Surely he meant to say Rain. She looked as if she would be able to beat a thousand cats in battle at once! Snow wanted to complain, but she knew that she couldn't, not infront of everyone. So she just sighed and looked at her sister with a worried face. How could this happen?


	2. Chapter 2

Snow was still shocked about the whole Stoneteller business, even the morning after. She sat watching her sister playing with Gold Wing of Eagle and Gold's brother, Cloud that Covers Sun. Snow just sat in front of the nursery, no one even noticing her. She just stared into space, thinking about how she could posibly get out of becoming Stoneteller. She didn't want to sit in a dum old cave everyday, looking into a pool of water that didn't even matter to her. And even worse, she would have to recite all the words her mentor told her about herbs. She wanted to go on patrols with her sister, and train with her sister everyday. Her mother and father were both Cave-guards, and Snow had been hoping to become a cave-guard like them.

She just sighed and padded over to her sister, who was now on top of Gold, pushing her into the soft dirt of the cave floor. "Hey, Rain, want to go exploring through the cave?" the white tabby asked her littermate.

Rain looked up from what she was dong. "Umm, sure. Just let me finish thi-"

A paw swiped across Rain's mouth and Gold pushed the small orange kit off her. She pulled Rain's legs out from under her and pounced on top of her, pinning her down.

"Got you!" the golden kit let out a triumphant yowl before getting off Snow's sister and going over to her brother to sit.

Rain shook herself and nodded to Snow. "Alright. I finished my little thing. Lets go see if we can discover a new tunnel!"

Snow and her sister bounced away and pushed themselves into darkness, opening their eyes wider so they could see better. There were twists and turns in the tunnel, and it took Snow a hard time to find her paws. Still, they kept going until they reached a small cave with a hole in the roof. On the ground there was a pool of water which reflected the sun, brightening up the cave.

"Wow..." Snow mewed, and her sister nodded.

"This is so cool. I bet you couldn't jump in the puddle!" Rain meowed playfully, and tried to push her sister into the pool. But Snow instinctively hissed at her sister to stop.

"No! Its to beautiful to mess with. I mean, just look..." Snow lost her voice as something strange happened to the water. All of a sudden, the pool turned blood-red, then in the middle, it became blue-green. Suddenly, a voice spoke to Snow.

"Snow, you are destined to become the next Stoneteller. You must become the new leader! Snow to Stone, you will grow into the greatest leader known to the Tribe, but only if you belive you can." it sayed softly, just before the colors changed back to normal._  
_

"Snow? You ok?" Snow felt her sister beside her once again, and looked up at the orange she-cat.

"Ugh, yeah, sorry. Just day dreaming, a really strange day-dream at that." The white tabby she-cat shook her head to clear out her thoughts about the words.

Rain sniffed the air. "I think we should be heading- AHH!"

A golden paw swipped at Rain's ear and Snow looked behind her to see Gold and Cloud. Before she could speak, Cloud knocked her down and pinned her to the floor.

"Ouch! Your pushing on my paw!" Snow squealed, and Cloud let her go and helped her up.

Just as she was about to paw at Cloud's ear for what he had done, a voice startled her. "Well, I see you've found the Pool of the Shinning Sun." Snow didn't need to look around to know who it was. She already recognized the voice.

"Stoneteller!" Rain's mew came from next to Snow, and she closed her eyes so she couldn't see the dark cat.

Stoneteller walked up to the two sisters and put his tail on Snow's shoulder. (she could feel him, and hear him) "This was the first den of the first Stoneteller's of the Tribe. But when we found the Cave of the Pointed Stones, the Stonetellers moved into there. And that's where they have been for a while."

Snow looked up at her 'to be' mentor, and he looked down at her. His eyes shone like the pool that lay in front of them at that moment. Soon, Snow spotted something, a dark, sad look in the old cat's eyes. As if he hurt. "What's wrong?" she asked, making sure she wasn't sounding like a kit as she said it.

He looked away from her for a second and sighed. "Nothing, nothing you need to worry about."

But she was still worried. The dark gray tom turned around and took the kits back into the main cave, where their parents were standing around worried.

"Where could they be!" Snow could hear the scared wail of her mother as they entered the cave.

"Calm down Lark, their going to be all right." The white tabby she-cat saw Dark comforting Lark at the other entrance to the cave.

Brook came up beside them and looked over at where Stoneteller, Gold, Cloud, Rain and Snow were. "There they are. Looks like they went exploring."

But instead of Snow and Rain's mother coming up to them, it was Shade that comes from Trees and her mate, Minnow in Shallow Stream, who came up to them.

"Gold Wing of Eagle and Cloud that Covers Sun, where have you two been!" their mother growled.

Snow felt her two friends shrivel beside her, and heard a faint meow come from Gold. "We, well, we went to find these two, who are the ones who are getting us in trouble."

"Rain! Snow! Your both safe!" Lark rushed up beside them and pulled them forward with her tail. "I'm so glad we found you. We thought you had been taken off by an eagle or something! Your father sent out patrols to look for you two."

Rain quickly spoke up before Snow could. "We're sorry, Lark. We just wanted to go exploring, but I guess we forgot to ask you first..." she said in a sorry voice.

Dark came up to the group. "Where have you two been! We have been looking for you for-"

Stoneteller interrupted the black tom. "It's alright. And its a good thing they went exploring too. They found the first cave of the Stonetellers'. Their curiosity has brought them somewhere good, so you shouldn't be so mad, Dark Wing over Water."

Snow's father sighed. "I guess. Well, we better go tell the patrols to come back. Go to the nursery and rest for a little bit, my young daughters. You too, Lark. I want all of you off to bed, now."


	3. Chapter 3

Snow padded next to Stoneteller as they entered the Cave of the Pointed Stones. The old tom flicked his ear for Snow to sit next to a pool of water directly below a hole in the roof of the cave. The small white she-cat sat as she was told and Stoneteller sat down next to her and faced the pool.

"For a long time we have been waiting for a new cat to take my place. Ever since the Clan cats left I have been looking for a sucessor to take my place when I go to be with our ancestors." the old gray tom looked down into the pool as he spoke, not looking at Snow once. "When you came I knew that you would be the new Stoneteller. The night you were born The Tribe of the Endless Hunting told me you would be the next cat to take my place." then he looked over at the kit. "You are my sucessor."

Snow nodded. "I know. You told me, but..." her voice trailed off.

"But you think your sister will become jelous, and you don't want to become a leader." He finished her.

The little kit nodded with her head low. "Yes... I don't want to lead the Tribe! I want to be a cave-guard with my sister. I don't want to be noticed all the time and just sit in a boring old cave looking into a pool that shows nothing!" her words turned into desprate yowls with fear and frustration in them.

"Hush, Snow." Stoneteller curled his tail around Snow to comfort her, but she just pushed it away.

"Don't try to comfort me with your words that will turn into threats! I know what you tried to do to my grandfather. You tried to get him to leave the Clan, and you almost drove him out!" Snow growled.

"What! Thats not true." the old tom hissed. "That's just tales that the elders tell kits to get them to obey! Don't you dare speak of my past, kit." The old cat stood up and stalked into his den part of the cave, leaving Snow alone in the small cave.

"I'm sorry!" she wailed after him, but Stoneteller didn't come back. "Oh well..." She got up and walked out of the cave, and then padded over to the nusery and slipped inside. She looked around to see all the queens in the den talking about the toms.

"I heard they found a stash up of hawks in one of the caves on the outskirts of the territory." Pebble was telling the other she-cats.

"Yes. I heard that too from Dark. He said they scented the group of outsider cats around the stash. They think it was a secret stash to get them away from the camp." Lark meowed. She looked over at her daughter. "Snow, your back. I thought you would be learning some stuff about herbs and seeing signs."

Snow just stumbled over to her nest and crawled in. "No. He just wanted to tell me he couldn't wait to start working with me."

"She looks as tired as an eagle catching a hawk." Shade rested her tail on the tired kit. (Her nest was right next to Lark's)

Snow didn't want to listen to the queen's words; she wanted rest. She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

"Snow, wake up!" Snow sleepily opened her eyes to see her sister in front of her. "Come on, lets go play!"

The white tabby she-cat got up from the nest and stretched out her legs. "Ok. But I thought Gold and Cloud couldn't play with us anymore."

Rain shook her head. "We're going to go see the Water Fall!"

Now Snow was awake. The two sisters padded out of the den and went over to the cave entrance. Snow followed her sister ouside and the two kits leaped onto the rock wall that surrounded the waterfall to keep cats from falling in.

"Wow." Snow mewed to her sister, and the orange kit nodded. "It's so beautiful."

"Hey, what are you two doing out here?" the two kits turned around to see Dark coming over to them, leaving his patrol behind with a hawk and a few mice. "You should be in the cave."

Snow gulped. Now what were they going to do? All of a sudden the small kit felt her paws give way and she fell backwards into the pool of water created by the waterfall.

"AHH!" She screamed as she fell into the deep water. She hit the water with a hard splash and lashed her paws out. She could feel herself falling further into the water, her paws doing nothing to help her rise. Suddenly something clamped onto her scruff and pulled her up out of the water. Snow felt herself starting to run out of air, and she almost swallowed water. She suddenly felt herself break from the water, and she took in the air.

"Snow, your safe!" Rain meowed to her sister as Snow was set down onto the ground.

Snow looked behind her to see Stormfur cleaning the water off her. "You saved me." she mewed to the gray tom.

Stormfur looked up. "Yes. I guess I did. You were lucky your father came. If he hadn't, you would be eagle-food by now."

"Yes," Dark came up to them. "Now, lets get you back to your mother."

* * *

'Snow!" Lark's voice came from the nursery and the small she-cat saw her mother emerge from the cave. "I'm so glad your safe, but what were you thinking, going over to the Water Fall without a cave-guard or a prey-hunter with you? You could have died, and your sister wouldn't have anyone to play with, and I would miss you terribly!"

Dark set Snow down, and the small kit scrambled over to her mother. "I'm sorry, Lark. I should have stayed in the nusery."

Lark nodded, and the Tribe cats who had gathered near Snow and her family started to move away. Dark picked his daughter up by her scruff and took her into the nusery, knocking Snow around. Snow's father put her into her nest and Lark came to curl up next to go to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Snow slowly opened her eyes and looked around. She had been dreaming of chasing mice and eagles on the Tribe territory, hunting with her father, mother and sister, along with her friends. Now she was back in the kit-den, the sweet scent of kits, other than Snow and her sister, in the air. She could also pick up the scent of icy dawn that came from outside. She could tell that her sister was waking up by the feel of her heartbeat growing rapidly. Soon the kit could hear her sister yawn and felt Rain stand up and yawn again.

Snow turned around in the dug-out nest and made herself comfortable again, curling her legs to curve herself into a ball, but not putting her head down onto her paws. She smiled at her sister who was stretching and yawning at the same time. Rain finally curled back up and faced the white kit, her legs and body curled the same way.

"Good morning, sleepy eagle," Snow mewed softly, watching her sister yawn, _again._

Once she was finished stretching out claws out, Rain licked the sides of her mouth. "Good morning, sis." she mewed sleepily.

Snow admired her sister. The orange she-cat was beautiful, already being followed around by Cloud who she spent almost all her time with. They're parents were almost ready to let the kits become to-be's, which the parents always choose when their kits would start training to become cave-gaurds or prey-hunters. She was convinced Lark and Dark would choose for them to become to-be's in a few sunrises.

The white she-cat put her head on her sister's shoulder, and her sister did the same. Snow let out a small yawn and drifted into sleep.

* * *

"We have spoken..." Snow opened her eyes and looked up. She was no longer in the kit-den with her sister and mother, but she was in the territory on a large flat slope, the grass beneath her dead and somewhat orange. The white kit got to her paws and looked around. Where had the voice come from?

She padded down the slope, dodging all the rocks that stood in her way. Her ears were pricked forward, listening for any sound of where the voices. But no matter how far she walked, it seemed like she was going no where.

"It is time..." the voice came again, but Snow couldn't find out where it was coming from. She then relized it was in the air, a voice speaking in her mind.

"It's time for what?" she mewed, but the voice didn't answer her question.

"Snow will become Stone, reading the signs of water and pointed stones." this was what Snow had heard when she had gone to the pool of moonlight in the far back of the cave where the Tribe had made their camp. What did it mean?

"What do you mean!" she yowled at the voice, but it still didn't answer her.

It came in a clearer voice this time. "You are Snow, Snow to Stone you will be, but ony if you believe it."

Snow veered around to see a silver she-cat with beautiful blue eyes. Had she seen this cat somewhere before? If so, where?

The cat came up to the kit, towering over her. "I am Feathertail, your kin. I was Stormfur's sister, and if I had never had the dream telling me to come here, you wouldn't be alive right now."

The kit was stunned. Feathertail sounded like a name she knew, from stories. Then it hit her: she was the cat who saved the Tribe when Sharptooth had been picking them off one by one. Now she knew this cat.

"Your Feathertail? But shouldn't you be walking the skies with YOUR ancestors?" Snow asked, almost whispering it.

Feathertail twitched her whiskers and shook her head. "Yes, I still do. I only walk these skies because I helped them and I died under their cave walls, now buried beneath them. I am still with the Tribe, little one. Don't worry."

Snow was still worried. "But, why did you come to me? Why did you tell me that I need to become Snow to Stone, only if I believe it?"

"That is something I cannot tell you, dear one. You must learn this prophecy on your own, it is not for me to decide why or how. It is fate that does stuff." The silver cat disapeared, leaving Snow on the cliff side alone.

* * *

"Pass the feathers over to me, Gold!" Snow called to her freind. The kits were playing pass the feathers, all four of them, including Pebble's new kits Cliff on Mountain Side, Feather of Flying Hawk and Cold Storm at Night.

Gold passed the feathers to Snow, making sure they dodged away from Cloud, Rain and Cliff, who were already having a hard time passing to each other. Snow took the feathers and passed them to Feather, who quickly tried to throw it onto the pile of eagle feathers, which was their goal. The feathers were taken by Cold instead of going into the goal, and the white tom passed them over to Rain who was very close to their goal. Rain took the feathers with one of her claws and threw it into their goal.

"Score!" she yowled and almost fell over with excitment. "We win, you loose, Blue Water team!"

Each of the teams had a name, and Snow was on the Blue Water team, while her sister was on the Red Lion team. The white kit knocked her sister down with a playful push and the two rolled over on each other, knocking their goal down. Snow swipped a paw at Rain as they tumbled over and hit her sister at the wrong spot, her nose. She also had her claws out on accident, which made things even worse.

Snow stopped tumbling and gagged at the scent of blood, seeing her sister's nose. The orange kit screeched in pain and kept yowling and crying until Stoneteller came out with herbs in his mouth. Stormfur and Brook quickly came over and helped Rain to her paws, though Stoneteller told them not to when they tried. Since every other Tribemate was out on patrols, the three older cats where all that were left in the cave with the kits.

"I'm sorry, Rain!" Snow squealed to her sister who was being carried into the Pointed Stone den for treatment. "I didn't mean to, honest!"

"Come on, Snow, lets get you and the others back to the kit-den." Brook picked the shocked white kit back to their den so she could rest again.


End file.
